Pyramid Thunderhead India Pale Ale

Brewed by Pyramid Breweries
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Seattle, Washington USA

Serve in Shaker, Tulip

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About as nondescript as an IPA can come and remain a decent tasting IPA. Nothing offensive, nothing alluring. Hop bitterness is there but overwhelmed by the malt sweetness. Mouthfeel is a bit thing. A merely serviceable IPA.

From a bottle, poured golden amber, white light bubbled head. Almost no aroma, faint hops, faint malt. Hop bitterness is strong on the tongue, but not well balanced with the malt profile. Resinous pine flavor, without any of the citrus/floral notes that I’ve come to love in an IPA, especially from the NW. Mediocre at best.

Pours a light copper with some nice thick creamy head, excellent clarity. Aroma is of orange citrus, light grapefruit, very light caramel malt, slightly hinting at fresh green pepper. Moderately sweet sipping with a nice dry and smooth bitter finish, light bodied. Bitterness lingers slightly, but not much. Also, finishes fairly dry. Your ordinary, middle of the road, run of the mill PNW IPA, average at best and below average at worst.

Bottle from Spirits Lacey. Pours out a mostly clear, copper color with no head. Aroma is of bready malts, caramel, some light citrus hops. Taste is caramel malts, lots of bread, cereal, some lingering citrus hops add some bitterness, but the overall flavor is somewhat one dimensional and average.

powerful enough pepper like bitterness that lingers with grapefruit pith. a touch of sour and caramel malt to help balance. golden brew with light orange hue the head fades fast and there is booze in the mid profile with some Belgian influences of banana and clove just wafting for a moment. carbonation seems mild with a citrus zing right before swallowing. wake up brew! demonstrative and disturbing.

botle aroma, not much faint hops slightly flora color, straw light amber taste, some hops but watery overall, ok, would not go out of my way to get

Just got pyramid out here on the east coast. The pour is amber with a white head that dissapates very quickly. Aroma is of grapefruit, and citrus hoppiness with a solid caramel malt foundation. Taste is the same, finish is easy.

Originally reviewed: 2/2/09. Pours a dark gold with about an inch head on it. Fades to a thin sheet which leaves great lacing rings and webbing on glass edge. Smells piney and hoppy like an IPA should. This beer is high-hopped for sure. Almost overly bitter. The balance is a little off as there is no malt sweetness to meet with the bitterness. It comes across as a spicy, burnt flavor, that isn’t necessarily unpleasant, just different. Not that bad. I’m glad I tried it.

Yellowish golden, clear. White yellow foam that lasts for a short time. light hoppy aroma. low body and low carbon. hop flavor with caramel. Bitter aftertaste that last somewhat. Could be better balance.

12 oz bottle at home. Pours a standard "gold" that’s closer to straw than a precious metal. Some perfunctory white head. Not much in the aroma department; a dash of citrus hops, some low fat malt cracker, something vaguely sudsy {I don’t use soap to clean my beer glasses . . . bottling cleaning residue?} . . . anyway, on to drinking. Taste-wise there’s not much happening, either. Flavors similar to the aroma stick out, and there’s something persistently soapy about this brew. The hops dominate, but there’s something straw or hay-like about the hops, dried out and grassy. The palate is rough, a bit sand papery due to intense co2. Definitely not my favorite beer, drinkable tho.